“You aren’t really angry because I helped your mother,” he said, lifting his head to look down into her face. The paleness in her face was gone. Her cheeks flushed pink. She wanted him. “You’re angry because you’re afraid. You’re angry because you’re afraid these gifts—particularly this gift to your mother—will trap you in Saidia, with me.”
Her eyes widened and she bit down into her lower lip.
He was right. That was her fear.
His chest grew tight. He felt an unaccountable pang, the pang eerily reminiscent of the ache and loss he’d felt after his mother left Saidia all those years ago. “Laeela, I made you a promise. You give me eight days and nights, and I will not keep you here against your will—”
“It’s not you I’m afraid of,” she interrupted. “It’s me. I believe you will let me go. I believe you will put me on a plane should I request it. But I’m afraid that I might not request it, might not insist on it, and then everything that is uniquely me and mine, everything that I have worked so hard for all these years, will be gone.”
“But if you remain here, you gain a new identity and a new life.”
“As your wife. But I won’t be anyone without you, and I vowed years ago to never be dependent on a man, much less a powerful man, and here in Saidia, I will be completely dependent on you.”
“Is that such a bad thing if the powerful man is a just man?”
Her eyes turned liquid and she swallowed hard. “You already make my heart ache.”
“I think we would make a good team, laeela.”
She struggled to smile. “Maybe you should just make love to me.”
He dipped his head, kissed her lips. “Good idea. So what do you want, my beautiful bride? How can I please you today?”
“You,” she said. “I just want you.”
* * *
Jemma saw heat flare in Mikael’s eyes and felt him harden against her.
She rocked her hips up, savoring the sensation of him against her. He was hard and warm, so warm, and she couldn’t remember ever wanting anyone like this. “Make love to me, Mikael,” she added, wrapping her arms around his neck and sinking her fingers into his crisp hair. “I need you.”
His mouth covered hers, his tongue parting her lips to take her mouth even as he thrust smoothly, deeply into her body, filling her, stretching her.
He felt unbelievable.
She felt unbelievable.
Jemma’s eyes burned and her chest ached, emotion bubbling up inside of her. Her arms slid down around his shoulders to hold him tighter. He was big and powerful and yet he fit her, and felt perfect to her.
Mikael kissed her, drawing her tongue into his mouth, sucking the tip even as he buried himself deeper into her body. She welcomed his weight and the fullness that stole her breath, and then he began to move. His lean sculpted hips dipped and he pressed deeper, then withdrew, only to stroke deep into her again.
She sighed and arched as he hit a spot inside her that tingled with pleasure. “More,” she said, pressing up against him as he drove into her.
“I don’t want to hurt you.”